Striking fact about the building that collapsed in Bahçelievler: Three extra floors were added

It has emerged that three floors were added later to the seven-story building that partially collapsed in Bahçelievler.

12punto 27 June 2024

Sinan Türkkan, President of the Earthquake Strengthening Association (DEGÜDER), said regarding the 7-story building that partially collapsed in Bahçelievler, "If you add 3 more floors to a building that is already struggling to carry itself, from an engineering perspective, the result is inevitable."

Reminding of the earthquake risk in Istanbul, Türkkan stated, "If we consider Istanbul as a whole, we can say that there are quite a lot of such buildings. We must make a decision as soon as possible and absolutely overhaul and make earthquake-resistant those buildings that were built before 2000, whose concrete was mixed by hand, which have plain reinforcement bars, and which did not receive the necessary engineering services."

Emphasizing that there was uncontrolled construction in Istanbul between 1970 and 1990 along with population growth, Türkkan said, "This building was built in 1980. This building was likely constructed after excavation without any precautions against water—because it is said there is corrosion in the building—and without any insulation measures. I am not even mentioning the regulations. In terms of construction conditions, it was built under quite primitive conditions. You then add 3 more floors to this building in 1994. If you add 3 more floors to a building that is already struggling to carry itself, from an engineering perspective, the result is inevitable."

"DEMOLISH OR STRENGTHEN"

Stating that buildings constructed before 2000 in Istanbul must be overhauled, Türkkan said, "These buildings must absolutely be scanned quickly and the necessary measures must be taken. They should be made ready for an earthquake, either by demolishing them if they need to be demolished, or by strengthening them if they can be strengthened. There is no point in strengthening a building that is in such bad condition that it cannot stand on its own. But if buildings that are salvageable are strengthened with a truly viable project, it can of course be done. We saw in Hatay that the building that was strengthened remained standing." said.